Elizabeth Hamilton

b. 1756 or 1758, Belfast; d. 1816, Edinburgh

A staunch supporter of women’s rights, Elizabeth Hamilton explored a wide variety of topics and themes in a large body of writings. Some of her more popular books are Translations of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah (1796), Letters on Education (1801), Life of Agrippina, Wife of Germanicus (1804), Letters Addressed to the Daughter of a Nobleman (1806), and Exercises in Religious Knowledge (1809). Her most popular novel, The Cottagers of Glenburnie (1808), a tale of the working poor “improved” by the sanitary habits and gentle manners of a servant, evinces the heavily moralistic tone that runs through all of Hamilton’s work.